Automatic operator for elevator doors and hall doors



Jan. 4, 1949. M. A. MYERS 2,458,402

AUTOMATIC OPERATOR FOR ELEVATOR DOORS AND 'HALL DOORS ATTORNE 5 Jan. '4, 1949. M. A. MYERS AUTOMATIC OPERATOR FOR ELEVATOR DOORS AND HALL DOORS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 29, 1944 1N VENTOR.

MorfmerAMye/s 5) M ATTORNEYS Jan. 4, 1949. M. A. MYERS 2,458,402

AUTOMATIC OPERATOR FOR ELEVATOR I DOORS AND HALL DOORS Filed Feb. 29, 1944 l 4 ShQe'S-She'et 3 l INVENTOR. /VOrf//We/A Myers A T Tom/E YS -Jan.4,1949. MA. MYERS y 2,458,402

AUTOMATIC OPERATOR FOR ELEVATOR DOORS AND HALL DOORS Filed Feb. 29, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Q \o \\Q a5 ya N INVENTOR. j Morf/merAMye/"s AT To/wv: Ys

Patented Jan. 4, 1949 AUTOMATIC OPERATOR FOR ELEVATOR DOORS AND HALL DOORS Mortimer A. Myers, Bellaire, N. Y., assigner to The Maintenance Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 29, 1944, Serial N0. 524,390

13 Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in automatic elevator car door operators and in combined car door and hall door operators.

An object of the invention is 'to provide a novel and advantageous car door operator for elevators.

Another object is to provide novel means for operating both car doors .and h-all doors in elevator installations.

Another object is to provide novel door operating means whereby the door will -be operated at maximum speed in the middle part of its travel and will automatically slow down in moving toward the ends of its path until zero speed is 'reached at the limits of travel, thus obviating the necessity of checking devices and the like and preventing slamming of the door.

Another object is to provide novel door operating means permitting the lcar door to be opened from within in case, for example, of interruption of the current supply for the electrically driven door operator.

Another object is to provide means, for use in connection with a door operator, according to the present invention, to unlock the hall door slightly in advance of the door opening operation..

A further object is to provide novel and advantageous door-operators which are of simple construction and are economical to manufacture, install, yoperate and maintain.

In carrying .out the invention, use may be made of an operating arm pivoted on a structure carried by the cage or car above its roof and connected to a member -slidable along a vertical guide secured to the car door at its front side. With the car at rest and the car door open the operating arm will be substantially horizontal. Upon the operation of means which may include buttons on the car and buttons at the various floors, there will be started a torque motor which swings the operating arm and closes the door. The motor is then stalled but :the current is still ysupplied thereto. When reaching Vthe selected oor, the action of the motor will be reversed and when the door is fully open the motor will be shut off.

To allow the door to be opened manually in case of possible interruption of the current supply with passengers in fthe car, provision of back pressure 4means is made lto exertback pressure on the operating arm when it comes within a short distan-ce, say three inches, of horizontal. The torque motor will overcome this back pressure but wil1 be stopped by suitable means when the operating arm reaches substantially horizontal position. If, therefore, the current is cut E, the back pressure means will move the operating farm downwardly and move the door back a short distance but far enough to enable anyone present to insert his fingers and yopen t-he door. The back pressure means may involve the use of springs, weights or any other suitable mean-s.

When mast-er door operation, that is operation of both car door and hall door together is desired, it may be attained by attaching a slotted carrier to the car door, and angle iron members to the several hall doors, all with flanges carefully aligned with the slot `of the slotted carrier on the car door. Of course this connection may be reversed or other connections used. If then the car door closes or opens within a landing or floor zone, the hall door at that level will move with the car door.

With this arrangement `for connecting the car and hall doors, it will be necessary to unlock each hall door before it can be opened by the car door. For this purpose a retiring cam on the car may be used to release .the latches carried by the hall door frames or the adjacent walls and vadapted to cooperate with suitable members or keepers on `the hall doors. As each door closes, the car door operator withdraws the cam so that the hall door will be locked.

Master door operation requires unlocking of the hall door at the level reached by the car, before the doors move appreciably. This may be accomplished by causing `the operating arm to operate an auxiliary arm upwardly beyond horizon- `tal to closing position. The door movement corresponding to an upward movement of the auxiliary lever vthrough a short distance below horizontal and a short distance above horizontal, and

v vice versa would be practically nil, and the door operating arm movement corresponding to this rang-e of movement of the auxiliary arm may be used to eiect the locking or unlocking of the hall door while this door Iand the car door `connected therewith are practically stationary.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear upon consideration of the following detailed description and of .the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of the upper par-t of the car of an automatic elevator, showing car door operating means embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front elevation showing a. form of the invention in which the car door operator is used to control hall door locking s 10. Y u?.

means and to open ano close the hall door, the hail door being ordinarily locked;

Eig. is a view similar to Fig. 4 but with the hall door unlocked and both doors withdrawn slightly from closed position;

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. `is a section on line I-'"i of Fig. 8; and

Fig. -S'is a fragmentary detail view on a larger scale of the car door opener of Fig. 1.

Referring to Figs. l and 2, the supporting frame of a car l0 may comprise vertical side members I'I in the form of channels which may cooperate with vertical guides (not shown) in the elevator shaft, and a crosshead I2 comprising two hori- Zontal channels i3 facing outwardly and having their webs secured by suitable means such as rivets to the corresponding side flanges of .side members II. The car proper may comprise a floor and a rear wall (both not shown), side walls I4, a top or roof I5, and a front wall i3 having therein a door opening Il which may extend about `half the width of the car.

Mounted on the front wall i6 of the car and somewhat above the door opening Il' is a door supporting and guiding rail I8 which is spaced from the front wall and near its top is free at both its front and rear faces. Slidably supported by this rail I8 is a door I'9 slideable from closed to open position and vice versa. Such support may be attained by use of hangers in the form of brackets secured to the door at its top and having prvoted to each bracket a wheel 2j adapted to rest on the rail. As illustrated each wheel 2i is to the rear of the corresponding bracket and the upper end of the bracket extends over the top of the wheel and downwardly to the rear thereof where it may assist in supporting the pivot and, as illustrated in Fig. 4, and may extend back of the rail to serve as a guard to prevent the wheel from running off the rail,

Mounted on the door I9 and extending upwardly therefromis a guide 22 in the form of two Vparallel bars 23 secured together at their ends by member 23a which maintain said bars at such a for a roller-24 pivotally mounted, preferably with yball bearings, on one end of an arm 25 pivotally mounted at its other end, and steadied between said bars by guide washers 25a. The effective length of the arm is about one-half of the width of the door opening so that by movement of the arm through 180 in opposite directions about its pivotal support the door will be opened and closed.

The operating means for the arm 25 is mounted on a .channel shaped bed-plate 26 supported by the forward parts of angle bars 21 attached to the anges at the bottom of the channels i3 of the cross-head I2. For greater strength and stiffness use may be made of ties or braces 27a secured to the top flange of the front channel I3 and to the angle bars 2l' just to the rear of the bed-plate 26.

.The pivotal mounting of the end of arm 25 remote from the roller 2li is effected by securing it' in-radial position on a disc or head 28 secured toa hollow shaft 29 supported in two bearings 30 extending downwardly from the bed plate 25 at its front and rear edges. Actuation of the head .28 about the axis of shaft 29 may be effected by means mounted on the bed plate 25 and com- .,prising a reversible torque motor 3l, a belt drive 'the chain tight and to act as shock absorbers.

4 on the motor shaft and connected, preferably by a V-belt 33, to a larger pulley 34 mounted on a shaft 35 carrying a small sprocket wheel 36 cooperating with a suitable roller chain 3l connected at opposite ends to brackets 38 projecting from the circumference of the head 28 at distantly spaced points .between which the disc or head is `provided with ya wide rim 39 to carry a part or parts of the chain 3l as the head turns back and forth. The ends of the chain 31 may be connected to the brackets 38 by pins 40 slidable in the brackets 38 and carrying compression springs 4i conned between the brackets and v'members by nuts i2 on threaded portions of the pins. Said springs 4I may serve to hold It will `'be evident that in addition to the initial speed reduction from pulley 32 to pulley 34 there 4is lva Vvery substantial second speed reduction between sprocket wheel 36 and the disc or head 28. It should be noted that all of the operating parts .for opening and closing car `door .i9 vare located at all times above the level of the top of said .door where they will not interfere with any other :part nor be interfered 'with by any other part.

When the car is at rest at a floor and out of use, the door It] is open and the :circuit of motor 3I is open, rand arm 25 would be in a position at approximately 180 from its position shown in Fig. 1. Then if the motor circuit -be closed in .a known .manner by pressing a suitable button in the car or a button at any other floor, the torque motor 3l would operate to swing the arm through about 180 to close the door. Upon completion of the door closing, the motor which is 'designed so as not to be injured by such action, may be stalled due to the action on the arm of any suitable stopping means, and remains in that .condition until lthe elevator reaches the intended floor and the motor is reversed automatically in a Aknown manner to open the door. As brought out hereinafter a part of a device having also a different function is utilized to stop the arm and stall the motor. It is found to be distinctly advantageous to keep the motor energized in that this condition prevents tampering with the door when the car is in motion.

In connection with such opening the motor 3| must be automatically shut off or stopped as the door 'I9 approaches close to or reaches its nal open position. To this end, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, wires 43 of the door-opening circuit pass through the hollow shaft 29 to the front of the disc or head 28 to posts 44 on an insulating disc 45 clamped across a circular opening or hole 46 in the head, and from said posts to a mercury switch 41 held against the disc 45 by a spring clip 48. The disc 45 is guided in the hole 46 by two arcuate members 45a which engage, slidingly, the edge of the hole 46. These members 55a are held on the disc 45 by screws 45h, Figs. 1 and 3. The disc 45 is of slightly larger diameter than the hole 46 so as to engage the rear face of the head 28 and lips 45e, one on each member D, enga-ge the front face of the head to clamp the disc 45in adjustable position in the hole 46. As illustrated, the head 28 is provided with a vsecond opening which might be used in installation of another mercury switch to shut off the motor 3I upon closing the car door when and if desired.

4Whenthe mercury switch III4 is in its lowermost position (Fig. 1) the circuit will be closed atthat. point-but when the switch is moved through 180 around the hollow shaft 29 and reaches its uppermost position as the door reaches its open position, the switch will be opened, slightly before it reaches its nal position. .The wires 43 extend through an armored casingg58 to a junction box 49 where they are connected to suitable binding posts (not shown). Torque motor wires or conductors (not shown) inan armored casing 58a connect the motor to suitable parts in the junction box 49. Preferably the front of the head 28 is covered by a cover plate or disc 49a, Figs. 1 and 3.

Some means should be provided to permit the door I9 to be opened manually in case of intere ruption of the current supply to motor 3| with lpassengers in the car. To this end provision may be made of a sliding member or shoe 5I onrbars 23 urged downwardly by a helical spring 52, Figs. 1 and 8, interposed between the shoe 5I "and member 23a. The spring will no longer be under compression when the door is open entirely or to a substantial extent, and the shoe 5I will be arrested by stop means such as pins 53 projecting from the front of bars 23 a short distance,"s`ay approximately three inches, below the position occupied by shoe 5I when the arm 25 is held in substantially horizontal door closing position vby the motor. The spring 52 may be held against buckling by a telescopic guide (Fig. 8) consisting of a tube 55 projecting upwardly from shoe 5I and a rod 58 extending downwardly from member 23a and adapted to obstruct and limit'` the upward movement of shoe 5| so as to stop. the arm 25 in substantially horizontal position with the door closed and the spring held underfrcompression by the stalled motor. If the current supply is interrupted the spring will expand and move arm 25 downwardly to the position determined by the pins 53 thus releasing and opening the door slightly, but far enough to permit engagement of the front edge of the door to thus enable the door to be opened entirely manually. It will be understood that there is provided at each iloor a hall door 51 each door having rollers 58 by which the door is supported on a rail 59 fixed to wall 59a and upon which the door 51 may ride back and forth to open and close it.

The hall door 60 is slidably mounted at the shat side of the hall wall 6I, Fig. 6, so that it can, move in unison with car door I9 and Close andl open hall door opening 82. Preferably the hall door is mounted in a recess 53 at the shaft side of the hall wall 6I and is slidably supported on a horizontal rail 64 mounted on said hall wall. The door 6l] may be supported from said rail 64 by hangers or brackets 65 projecting upwardly from the door and having rollers 65 resting on the rail, the mounting being similar to that for the car door I9.

In this arrangement provision must be made of means to connect the car door I9 with the hall door 80 at the floor or landing where the car is located. One Way of eecting such interlocking is to provide at the front of the car door a part 61 with a vertical slot or groove 68 and each of the hall doors 60 at their inner faces with members 69 having vertically 'extending tongues or flanges 10 all carefully aligned with the slot or groove 68 so as to be received thereby as the car reaches the corresponding landing zone or floor. With this arrangement, the energized torque motor action is particularly desirable in that it assures alignment during car runs, between the groove 68 in the part 81 at the outer side of the car door and the tongues or flanges 10 projecting from the inner sides of the hall doors 80.

Automatic locking of a hall door 60 at any iioor before the car leaves that landing zone and unlocking of a hall door at any floor when the car reaches the landing zone, may be eiected by means including a fixed locking member or hook 1I on the hall door, movable locking means on the hall door frame or the hall wall, and a retiring cam 12 carried by the car. The locking means on the hall door frame comprise a member 13 in the recess 63 and mounted on a pivot 14, said member 13 comprising a hook 15 adapted to cooperate with the hook 1I, an arm 16 urged by a spring 11 to move the hook 15 into position to cooperate with hook 1I, and an arm 18 having pivotally mounted thereon a roller 19 spaced inwardly from the hall Wall 6I in position to be actuated by the retiring cam 12.

Said retiring cam 12 is illustrated as having a central vertical portion and end portions inclined rearwardly so that the rollers 19 will not strike the ends thereof as the car reaches different iloors. The cam 12 may be supported by short parallel links pivotally connected to the rear of the cam 12 and to a bar 8l carried by brackets 82, only one being shown, projecting laterally from the car at its front one at the upper end and one at the lower end'of the bar 8l. The cam 12 is urged to advanced position, Fig. 5, by means of a spring 89 connecting bar 8l and an arm 84 projecting from the back of cam 12, being checked in such advanced position by means of a. stop in the path of one of said links 80.

When the car door I9 is closed, as it is during motion of the car from oneiioor to another, the door operating arm 25 will be in raised position, Fig. 4, and by engagement with a roller 86 pivotally supported on a cam controlling arm 81 mounted at one end on a pivot 88 on a bracket 88a secured to the bed plate 26, will hold the other end in raised position. A flexible member such as a chain 89 is connected to the outer end of arm 81, passes around a pulleyy 90 pivoted on bar 8| and is connected to cam 12 to hold the cam in retiring or retracted position. Downward movement of arm 81 may be limited by a stop 90a on the bar 8l. As indicated, there is very little clearance between the cam 12 and the roller 19 but the inclined ends of the" cam prevent trouble even if the roller strikes the cam.

When the arm 25 is swung from its Fig. 4 position to open the door, the arm 81 will move downwardly and the cam 12 will be moved downwardly and laterally to its advanced position, Fig. 5, by gravity aided by the spring 83, thus causing withdrawal to ineffective position ofthe locking member or hook 15 against the action of spring 11.

When the hall door 51 of Fig. 1 is to be opened manually, the unlocking of this door' may take eiect after the car door I9 has opened to some extent and under these conditions the upward movement of the door operating arm to close the door may stopped with the arm in horizontal position, Fig. 1, which it will maintain during movement of the car. The locked condition of waywith opening of the car door. -of4 a self-serviceel'evatorithe hall door, which anca/loa the '-outer or hall door would'lnotzinterferef in any In-thecase maybe of' the swing type, can bev opened from thehall orthe landing! atwhich the car isk at -rest' because the retiring@ cam hasunlocked-that Yparticular door.'

However, with master door operation, Figs. 4, and 6 the car door cannot open -unless the hall door is unlocked before the doors move appreciably. This condition'may be-helped, for example, by changing the lengthof stop rod or pin56v so asl to permit roller arm or door-operating arm to `move upwardly beyond the horizontal in closing. Obviously, the horizontal movement of :door-operating roller 24 during movement of` varmv 25v from a position slightly above horizontal will be substantially nil. 'Consequently the doorv movement would be substantially nil during the unlocking of the hall door. and there would be nol interference. lSimilarly the nal return of the locking'hook 15 to effective position would takeplacein the corresponding interval. In other. words, the movement of the -arm 25 during this interval may be utilized to operate the cam in locking or unlocking the hall door, while the car door'and the hall door are practically stationary. Y

Ihave described what Ibelieye to bethe` best embodiments of my linvention'. I do not wish, however, to be conrlned to the embodiments shown but WhatI desire to cover by LettersPatent .is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim: f

l. Operating means for a sliding door of a car of. an automatic elevator, comprising a guide with a verti-cal slot iixed to said door, a,roller movable in said slot, a door-operating arm 4on one end of which said roller. is pivoted and which is pivoted at the other end to the car, said arm having an effective length of about one-half of the door width, electrical` means for swinging said arm in one direction to close the door and to substantially horizontal position in the opposite direction to open the door, a member slidable on said guide above said roller, a stop device. to limit upward movement of the slidable member, spring means urging said slidable member downwardly but stressed by movement o f the arm to doorclosing position, said vspring means a-cting upon interruption of power to' force` said arm downwardly to release and slightly open thedoor and means for limiting the downward movement of said slidable member. y

2. Operating means for a sliding door of a car of an automatic elevator, comprising a vertical guide xed to said door, a device movablel along said guida a door-operating arm connected, at one endto said device a'nd pivoted at the other end on said car, said arm having an eiective length of aboutone-half the ldoor width, means including. a torque motor for operating said arm in opposite-directions in one direction toclose the door and in the opposite direction to open the door, a device to stop said arm in substantially door-closing position and stall said motor, and means `cooperatingiwith said device movable along the guide overcome by said arm in the latterl part of its door-closing movement but rendered eiectiveby interruption -of' current in the motor circuit -to move the door inthe opposite direction and open the` door` enough .to permitmanual opening thereof. 3. flnanelevator, asIidingdQOrtheremr, means for operating said door comprising a .member having a substantially cylindrical peripheralpor.- tion mounted for. rotation, a door-operating arm carriedA on the member and connected to. the door, a chain connected between spacedfastening means associated with the peripheral portion of the member and in engageable and disengag-cablel relationship with arcuate segments of the peripheral'iportion of the member, electric motor means for operating the member to rotate the same including a pinionoperatively cooperating with said chain to drive the chain and gravity actuated switch control means onthe rotatable member and responsive tothe rotation of the member to a predetermined position and disposed to -controlthe operation oi the electric motor.

4, In an operating device for a sli'dably mounted door, a guide member secured to thedoor disposed to provide rectilinear guiding action in a direction substantially perpendicular toV the direction of sliding motion of the door, a pivotally mounted operating member movably and pivotally engaging the guide member, the rstnamed pivot being substantially xedly positioned with respect to the door, power actuated operating means adapted to cause closure of the door by rotation of the operating member to a position where a radius drawn from the center of the rst-named pivot through the center of pivotav sliding engagement will be substantially parallel to the direction of sliding motion of the door land adapted to remain energized maintaining the operating member inthis parallel position to lock the door, and unlocking means adapted yieldingly to oppose rotation of the operating member as it nears the position of parallel radius and further adapted upon deenergization of the poweractuated means to rotate the operating member to a position suirlciently removed from the position of parallel radius to permit manual opening of the door.

tion in the stalled condition without being damaged thereby.

7. A device as in claim 4 in which the power actuated means comprises anA electric motor capable of continuous energization in the stalled condition without being damaged thereby.

8. A device as in claim 4 in which the unlocking means `comprises spring means operativey associated with the guide member and in which the power actuated operating means comprises an electric motor capable of repeated intermittent energization in the stalled condition without being damaged thereby.

9. In an operating device for a slidably mounted door, a transverse guide member secured to the door, a Divotally mounted operating member movably and pivotally engaging the guide member, the rst-named pivot being substantially posed to control the actuating means to stop further rotation of the operating member upon being rotated therewith into an angular position corresponding substantially to the open position of the slidably mounted door.

10. A device as in claim 9 in which the position of the switching means is angularly adjustable with respect to the operating member and including means for locking the switching means in any such position within the range of adjustment.

11. In an operating device for a slidably mounted door, a pivotally mounted operating member disposed to cause sliding action of the door upon rotation of the operating member through a predetermined arc, a substantially cylindrically shaped chain carrier concentric with the axis of rotation of the operating member and adapted to rotate therewith, spaced terminations associated with the chain carrier, a chain joining the terminations and secured thereto, an electrically controlled power operated pinion cooperating with the chain and disposed to drive the chain, and gravity actuated electrical switching means disposed to rotate with the operating member and further disposed to control the pinion to stop further operation thereof after the operating member has rotated to a predetermined angular position substantially in accordance with a limit of sliding travel of the door.

12. A device as in claim 11 in which the terminations comprise resilient spring members adapted to maintain the chain under tension.

13, A device as in claim 11 in which the 10 terminations comprise resilient spring members adapted to maintain the chain under tension and limiting means disposed to permit a limited amount of movement of the chain with respect to the terminations accompanied by deformation of the resilient spring members.

MORTIMER A. MYERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

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